Yolo County Bar Association celebrates 'Law Day'

"Every vote counts" was the theme of this year's Law Day celebration hosted by the Yolo County Bar Association on Thursday.

Judges and attorneys sat together to enjoy lunch, commemorate the right to vote, and celebrate the achievements of their colleagues. Four individuals received "Milestone Awards," recognizing Yolo County attorneys who have been practicing for more than 45 years, and remain active members of the bar.

Among the recipients was Charles R. Mack, who has practiced law for 54 years, 34 of which were served as County Counsel of Yolo County. He will be retiring as the longest-ever serving county counsel in California.

When discussing his experience of working in a small law office, he said, "It's great fun, it keeps you on your toes, something new happens every day."

Mack has been involved with a lot in his 54 years. He helped with the formation of the city of West Sacramento's school dress and grooming standards, school busing, new jails and prisoner treatment standards, environmental challenges, taxing of exported rice, closing a county hospital and election challenges.

J. Toney, who started working as a defense attorney in Yolo County in 1969, was also recognized.

"The longer you practice, you know more and more about less and less and that's the situation I'm in," he said.

Toney pursued his career because, as a child, he read about Clarence Darrow and other famous lawyers. He worked in the District Attorney's Office until 1975. Afterwards, he opened a private law office. Then in 1979, the county solicited bids for the conflict panel and Toney was one of the attorneys awarded the contract. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be maintaining a good conflict panel for more than 35 years.

Before Toney began his long career in Yolo County, he worked at Macy's during the holidays to pay the bills, a fact that Roger Gamatese, another award recipient, pointed out.

Gambatese, a former Air Force JAG officer, was hired as a part-time deputy district attorney in 1965 after a brief interview on the steps of the old courthouse in Davis. He said he was asked two questions: "Do you have any trial experience" and "When can you start."

Gambatese also took the time to honor Davis resident and attorney Oliver "Chip" Northup, who was murdered in his home along with his wife, Claudia Maupin, in April 2013. Davis teen Daniel Marsh, who is accused of the murder, is scheduled to stand trial in June.

"I couldn't let this opportunity pass, to say just some brief words about Oliver Northup," Gambatese said. "Oliver, who died a year ago, was active as a lawyer for 60 years, coming to Yolo County in 1953 when he joined the DA's Office."

A moment of silence was observed for Northup, before continuing the celebration.

Freddie Oakley, the Yolo County elections officer, concluded the lunch by talking about the election process and why every vote matters.

She briefly discussed the importance of voter outreach and the types of voter fraud that she has encountered in her career. Despite popular belief that voter fraud is prevalent, the only types of fraud she has encountered involved "the casting of multiple votes by confused seniors," and this is a rare occurrence.

"In my view, we have much more to fear from too few eligible voters participating in elections then we do from non-citizen voters casting imaginary, illegal ballots," Oakley said. "Let's not create barriers to voting."

This Law Day occurred on the eve of the 50th anniversaries of two landmark pieces of legislation - the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This year's Law Day also precedes by a month a judicial election in Yolo County. For the first time in many years, there is an open seat for a Yolo County Superior Court Judge. Judge Stephen Mock announced in January that he would be retiring from the bench at the end of his term. Running for the position are Janene Beronio, John Brennan, Fredrick Cohen and Larenda Delaini.